


Sheriff for a Day

by Talc



Category: Working at an Amusement Park - Girl_from_the_crypt
Genre: Cowboy Kink, F/M, Fluff, Light-Hearted, Mildly Dubious Consent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:07:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24365542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talc/pseuds/Talc
Summary: Mitchell is sick and someone needs to watch over the cowboy for a day at the park. Guess which (un)lucky gal gets to be his temp!
Relationships: Cowboy | Warin/Leah (Working at an Amusement Park)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Sheriff for a Day

It was generally understood that none of the park actors should let themselves get sick enough or injured in a way where they have to miss work, unless said injury was work related in which case Dale claims its their own fault for being stupid and they should show up anyways because he won’t be responsible for them being idiots. But an unfortunate series of events leads to Mitchell getting the stomach bug and the last thing they need is for him to be vulnerable in front of his pretender, so Mitchell stays home for the day. 

Unfortunate mostly because of all the actors that absolutely  _ need  _ to be at the park everyday, Mitchell was perhaps the second priority, and he only ranked that because if Caroline doesn’t do her job every day someone will definitely die, whereas with the cowboy it was only a possibility among other horrible or inconvenient outcomes. 

Because unlike the other pretenders, the cowboy gets easily bored and can’t really be properly contained for long periods of time unless he decides to stay locked up of his own volition. They would not get through an open day in the park without someone watching him and that person specifically could not be Dale, since if there was anyone the cowboy seemed to mess with more than Mitchell it was him.

Anne’s got her hands full taking care of the mime and Oliver has to keep watch on the diva so she doesn’t inadvertently explode at the slightest insult. Maxine only spends the day with the fairy as a precaution, but it wasn’t exactly a safe procedure to keep her out without an actor to watch her, and they certainly couldn’t keep her locked up all day. Darius was stuck in a similar situation, and of course Caroline has such a time sensitive task she really can’t be made to watch the cowboy all day. 

So the burden fell to Leah, whose giant scary living monster costume pretty much just needs to be fed and walked and then will happily just nap all day and therefore leaves her delightfully free to temp. A fact which she doesn’t learn until she steps into the break room in the morning and finds Dale waiting with a new costume for her to wear. 

She supposes she should be lucky that they managed to find a good sheriff outfit in her size, lest she be dressed as one of the saloon girls for the day. Not to say that those costumes are particularly bad, she’s sure compared to most parks they’re actually pretty modest and historically accurate, it’s just the cowboy and everyone else would probably get a good laugh out of it and she is  _ not _ in the mood.

So begrudgingly she dons her temporary role and heads out to Twin Vale Peaks, stopping briefly to explain what’s going on to Darius and asking him to make sure the sock puppet gets taken care of because she trusts Dale with that about as far as she can throw him. 

First step of the day is to let the cowboy out of his trailer, which she knows by days of Mitchell complaining tend to come with a projectile to the face. So, of course she unlocks the door and opens it slowly, expecting to dodge right away, and...Nothing. No thrown objects, no sound, no nothing.

A quick peak shows just why; the trailer is empty. 

“Shit.” Leah utters and steps inside. “Please tell me you’re just hiding.” The last thing she needed was to start the day by losing her pretender. 

A cursory look around the trailer shows a mostly dark space, lit only by the sunlight coming from the door. Windows are boarded up with wood panels and the space is mostly empty, bar what looks to be a collection of stolen props from Twin Vale Peaks and a pile of fabric that is stained in inky splotches of what can only be assumed to be the cowboy’s gross saliva. 

Thinking that perhaps the cowboy has managed to hide himself under what is really a rather small pile, Leah walks further into the trailer, only to freeze in place. With an ominous click, the door shuts behind her, plunging the trailer into complete darkness. Well fuck. She feels around for a light switch but only finds an oddly sticky wall that she doesn’t want to question. Equally odd, it seems the door isn’t where she left it, even as she starts to frantically feel around for it. 

When she gets to the point where she’s really starting to panic, suspecting that she is locked in the trailer without anyone knowing, the sound of laughter is honestly a relief. Leah tugs out her phone and turns on the flashlight, only jolting a little when it immediately lights up the smiling face of the cowboy who, upon seeing her, suddenly looks really confused. 

“Yeah, I know; I’m not Mitchell. Can you let me out now?”

The cowboy chuckles, stepping closer to her and reaching for her. Her eyes instinctively flutter closed for just a moment before there’s a flood of light and the door is open. The cowboy’s hand is on the latch, holding it for her with a polite gesture. 

“Thanks…” Leah hops out of the trailer, hoping that the cowboy will just follow after her, which thankfully he does. 

Out in the morning light he can finally make out just what she’s wearing. The whole sheriff getup is by no means tantalizing or sexy, but the cowboy lets out a low whistle at the sight of her, chuckling when she gives him an incredulous look. He had to be joking, right?

“Yeah, I know; I look ridiculous.” She crosses her arms, looking down at the outfit with a hint of annoyance. “Mitchell is sick today, though, so I have to play sheriff. The costume comes with the title.” Leah flicks the shiny gold sheriff’s badge pinned to her vest. 

The cowboy laughs, shaking his head. 

“What, you’re not going to accept me as your handler for the day?” She guesses. 

He shakes his head, stepping forward into her space to finger at the seam of her vest, smiling wide and mouth dripping with inky saliva as he regards the look. When she still doesn’t get the picture, he tips his hat to her and winks. 

Oh. 

“Well, glad to know you like it, I guess.” Leah smiles in return, because what the fuck else is she going to do, and takes a hardy step back from the pretender. Personal space please. “So...You going to throw things at me like you do to Mitchell or is this going to be a good day?”

The cowboy seems to mull over this thought carefully, tapping his foot as he looks her up and down, gaze almost hungry the way he eyes her cowboy boots and the star on her chest. She knows he’s made a decision when he steps forward and reaches for her face, as if to cup her cheek or pull her hair and...Swiftly snatches the cowboy hat off her head! 

With a roaring laugh he takes off running, hat in toe. Leah sighs, following after him. Apparently this was going to be a long day.

* * *

For what it's worth, the day goes on pretty well. She won't say it out loud, but Leah is having fun. 

The guests seem to be enjoying it too. They watch her chase after the cowboy in the morning, trying to retrieve her hat, and he makes a show of dropping it on kids heads for pictures and using it for games of keep away. At one point he places her hat on his head and his on her own which, considering different head sizes, slid down over her eyes and ears comically. 

It’s nice to make people laugh for once, a good change of pace from working in the horror section. Not that she doesn’t love her normal role, she really does, it’s just nice to do something different for a day. 

Of course, getting to spend all day in the faux-western town is a plus. It’s no secret just how much Leah loves Twin Vale Point, and the opportunity to act in it is just a dream come true. The cowboy even tries to get her to ride on top of the carriage with him at one point, much to her delight, but Nathan vehemently rejects the idea, refusing to let her on.

“It’s okay, you can hang out on top by yourself. I’ll just go take my lunch break!” Leah smiles, a little forced, and turns away from the carriage, planning to head off back to the horror break room and hunt down her lunch. She’s surprised when she hears a loud thunk from behind her and suddenly the cowboy has jumped from the top of the carriage to follow after her. “...You’re coming with me?”

The cowboy nods proudly, tipping his hat to her. 

“Geez, I didn’t expect you to want to spend much time with me. I know you make Mitchell run circles half the time.”

The cowboy grins, showing off all his pitch black teeth. When she just rolls her eyes and keeps walking, he snickers and follows after her. 

Lunch becomes swiftly awkward as they both sit in the horror section break room and the cowboy spends the whole meal just. Staring. At. Her. There’s nothing particularly fascinating about her meal, and he rejects her offers of sharing it with him (he hadn’t eaten all day and at this point she was pretty sure he just doesn’t have to), but he just giggles and goes back to watching her, head in his hands like he’s fascinated by the fact that she’s eating, observing the process with a gaze that has never looked so inhuman before. Honestly, it’s unnerving, and kind of puts off her appetite, especially with that black ick that leaks out of his mouth dripping onto the table. 

It’s almost a relief when he gets up and starts wandering around the room. Leah is reminded about the first time she met the cowboy, and how Mitchell had told her that the pretender likes this break room, for some unknown reason. It doesn’t make much sense, but she had certainly seen him in here once or twice and subsequently had to send him back to his keeper. Whatever he finds attractive about this room, she really doesn’t see it, but she doesn’t bother him as he amuses himself flipping through the packets of sugar by the coffee machine or what have you. 

Thankfully, Darius wanders in soon after, eyeing the cowboy warily. “What are you doing here?”

“Lunch break. There’s really no reason to eat in the Twin Vale Point break room, not like Nathan sticks around to talk or anything.”

“Any reason why he’s here?” Darius nods to the cowboy who, unbeknownst to Leah, is standing right behind her now, grinning at her coworker with those charcoal rot teeth of his. She’s rpoud to admit the proximity only startles her a little. 

“He wanted to come. I don’t know why.” She gives the pretender an odd look. “You know, you could have stayed with the carriage.”

Instead of demonstrating that he’s listening to her at all, the cowboy keeps his gaze on Darius, who stares back warily. “Odd…” They lock gazes in silence, leaving Leah to look between them in abject confusion. 

Soon the cowboy starts snickering, then giggling, then outright cackling, and she decides it’s about time they get going, especially with the look on Darius’s face. “Well my lunch break is almost up, so we should really head back to Twin Vale Peaks.” She packs up the rest of her lunch and stores it away, the cowboy still laughing loudly even as she grabs his cold, rough hand and leads him towards the door before he can cause any more trouble. 

* * *

The day slows down after lunch and all too soon they’re approaching closing time and Leah is more than ready to pack up and go. This was a nice change and all, but a lot more energy had to go into watching the cowboy than she was used to with the sock puppet. 

When she tries to tell the cowboy it’s time to return to the trailer so she can go change, the mood shifts drastically. The being who had been smiles all day looks, honestly, a little sad at the idea. He shuffles close to her, backing her against the wall, and tugs on the lapels of her vest, running his fingers up and down the worn leather. 

Leah chuckles in a somewhat forced manner, not exactly comfortable with the pretender standing so close. “I know you like the costume, but I really do need to take it off before I go home.”

The look he gives her is pitiful, all sad eyes and a dripping frown that really doesn’t seed any remorse in her. Though, such a dower look is unnerving on a face that normally is full of laughter, and the black ick doesn’t make it any more appealing. Leah can’t help but wonder for a moment if this is the first time the cowboy had had a good time with an actor in a long while. Certainly him and Mitchell don’t get along, and though Nathan is accommodating to the cowboy’s hitched rides onto the carriage, he really doesn’t have a choice in the matter, neither is he much of a conversationalist. 

“I…” When she opens her lips to protest again, his eyes flicker up to hers with a burning intensity. She can feel the heat in the gaze like an inferno, and when he leans even closer she realises it’s mostly because her face must be blushing up a storm right now. “I really enjoyed being your sheriff today.” Leah finally manages to say, averting her eyes. 

The cowboy softens at this admission and raises a hand to her head, running the back of his fingers down her cheek, slow and deliberate. For a moment she thinks he’s going to kiss her, and though that is not the worst thing he could do to her right now, it isn’t very appealing. 

A moment of silence breaks out between them, filled only by Leah’s quiet breathing and the background noise of the park shutting down for the night. It feels like he’s somehow moved even closer to her, pressing his thighs up against her hips and notching a leg between hers, a scene she has experienced before, though never with a literal monster. There’s really nothing she can do, but relent to this creature staring at her so fondly, trailing fingers in her hair, face slowly splitting into a smirk. 

Leah’s lips part ever so slightly, prepping to speak, and the change in atmosphere is so rapid it feels like lightning has struck between them. The hand in her hair suddenly digs fiercely into her roots, tugging just enough to hurt a little too much, tugging her face even closer to his, enough that she can feel her own warm breath bouncing back onto her from his lips. The cowboy’s other hand is yanking off his own hat, throwing it to the side as he leans in and-

“HEY!” 

The cowboy jumps back as the familiar shout of Dale calls from behind them. 

“Get off her! Right. Now.” 

Leah has never felt relieved to see Dale at any point in her life, but right now he’s the best sight she’s ever seen, standing in the light and scowling at the cowboy who had been holding her hostage. 

Said cowboy growls quietly under his breath, so quiet she’s pretty sure she wouldn’t have been able to hear it if he wasn’t so close, and turns to look at Dale, who just stares daggers back, words not needing to be said to express his emotions. 

Their staring contest breaks abruptly when the cowboy decides to snicker, a vicious grin cutting open his mouth, leaking copious rivulets of inky, black saliva. He soon is cackling disturbingly, looking at Dale with what can only be described as abject loathing. 

Dale tries to stand resolute in return, but it’s clear to Leah that he doesn’t quite have the resolve to keep it up, the slight shaking of his legs a clear sign that he will not be able to hold this for long. So, she decides to use this chance to ease out away from the wall and step back from her monster accoster. This triggers the cowboy to look at her again, manic laughter smoothing down to a dark chuckle. For a moment she thinks that something truly bad might happen now, that she is staring into the face of her own death, and the look on Dale’s face just confirms her thoughts. 

But the cowboy just tugs the hat off her head for a final time, pressing it against his own chest as he nods to her, playful smile slowly drawing back onto his lips. She smiles back, forced and awkward, and this seems an acceptable enough response to him, as he raises the hat to his lips and kisses it like it’s a treasured gift, before turning and running off, taking the hat with him as a token of their day together. 

Leah finally relaxes once he’s out of sight, giving Dale a rather begrudging look with full expectation to be called an absolute idiot for getting herself stuck in that. 

But Dale doesn’t even seem to remember she’s there, staring off at the direction the pretender took to with an odd, far away look on his face, contemplative and bothered. 

“I won’t have you fill in for Mitchell again.” He says after a long pause, not bothering to look at her. “Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Leah doesn't know what to say so she remains silent, waiting for something, anything else to be said, because this situation is just much too weird. But he doesn’t say anything more to her, just takes off at a brisk walk in the same direction of the cowboy. 

Exhausted and confused, she heads back to the break room to change and grab her things before heading home. She brings the sheriff badge with her. 

Despite everything, she wants to remember this day too.

**Author's Note:**

> warin would have a cowboy kink tho no one can convince me otherwise  
> just like, sees leah dressed in cowboy getup and like how is he supposed to control himself from spitting in her mouth right there?
> 
> What I keep questioning is when he decided to turn Leah, was he intending to turn her into something for the horror section where she already worked, or sending her to the western section to be with him? Cause I can see it going either way.


End file.
